Armenia: The comeback country.

[Hayordi]

Dallas Morning News , TX
Nov 11 2005


Armenia: The comeback country

Overlooked country alive with natural beauty, biblical sites


11:00 AM CST on Friday, November 11, 2005

By JANE WAMPLER / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News



Photo: GAYLON WAMPLER/
Special to DMN
Mount Ararat looms over the Armenia-Turkey border. YEREVAN - On a
clear autumn day, the smell of fresh cement and the sound of hammers
swirl through the capital city of Armenia.

Sidewalk cafes overflow with suited businessmen and couples talk over
demitasse cups of strong boiled coffee. Women in rimless sunglasses
and stiletto heels walk arm in arm, sidestepping wheelbarrows, and
several new luxury hotels are nearly booked to capacity.

Armenia is making a comeback. Again. After surviving 70 years of
Soviet domination, a devastating earthquake and millenniums of
foreign marauders, this Eurasian country is assuming its role of
perennial phoenix.

Few Westerners have glimpsed the mountain republic south of Russia.
Visitors who come find a country of high lakes, snow-capped
mountains, ancient monasteries, cascading rivers and archaeological
ruins.

Perhaps more significantly, in a region more associated with terror
than tourism, this predominantly Christian nation is politically
stable and welcoming to tourists.

"We might be in the middle of a nightmare - Iraq is 250 miles away as
the crow flies - but this is probably the safest place in the world
at the moment," says Laura Gononian, editor of Armenian International
Magazine, which caters to the English-speaking diaspora, many of whom
are descendants of those who perished or fled during the 1915-25
Turkish genocide. Entrepreneurs making the transition from communism
to capitalism are grateful for the tourism.

With financial help from families abroad - 1.4 million people with a
connection to Armenia live in the U.S. - Armenia is in the midst of a
rebirth. (Locally, much of the Armenian-American community centers
around St. Sarkis church in Carrollton.)


The capital city, population 1.3 million, is staggeringly old, older
than Rome by 29 years.



Fountains spray and flowers bloom along tree-lined boulevards -
testimony to an effort to reforest a city that was once nearly
clear-cut during the 1988 earthquake-induced fuel shortage. Crowds of
stylishly dressed mothers and children walk down Khanjian Street to
buy roasted coffee beans, potatoes, onions, ice cream and fried sweet
cakes from street vendors. And eateries serve Armenian food at low
prices. When my husband and I visited Old Erivan Restaurant, our bill
was less than $15 for a basket of lavash (thin pan-fried bread), a
platter of cheese, a ripe tomato and cucumber salad, lamb stew, a
shish kebab of meat and vegetables, and a few strong Armenian beers
to wash it all down.



Photo: GAYLON WAMPLER/Special to DMN
Legend says Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned at Khor Virap
Monastery before declaring Armenia the first Christian country.
Touring history

Visitors also find nothing can dim Armenia's rich and tragic history.
Nor does anyone want it to. Armenia's 4,000-year-old past is its main
draw.

Many consider this country the cradle of civilization. The biblical
rivers Tigris and Euphrates originate in the original Armenia. The
16,945-foot-high snow-capped Mount Ararat (now in Turkey) holds what
many believe to be the remnants of Noah's ark in its crevasses. In
301, Armenia became the first nation to embrace Christianity as a
state religion (a dozen years before Rome).

A common sight are monastery tours - busloads of people shuttling
from Hellenistic pagan temples to the third-century Echmiadzin
(ETCH-me-OTT-sin) Cathedral, home to the Armenian Orthodox faith
(think Vatican but smaller).

But you can strike out solo, too. During a visit in late September,
we hired Boris (a former Soviet-system mathematician) through the
national tourist board.




Photo: GAYLON WAMPLER/
Special to DMN
A young Armenian woman tends to her window garden. We chose several
sites, all southeast of Yerevan, for a 2 ½ day excursion.

On the first morning of our trip, we emerge bleary-eyed from the
Congress Hotel in Yerevan. Boris is waiting for us, polishing the
windshield of his red Niva, a Soviet-made SUV.

Within an hour we are watching Mount Ararat turn an orangey pink, and
by 10:30 a.m. Boris announces what will become a comforting ritual -
a coffee break. He pulls the car to the side of the road and removes
from his car trunk a small propane stove, a bag of powdered coffee,
sugar and three small china cups. While we take in the views, Boris
sets out the coffee with sweet cakes (baked early that morning by his
wife) for a makeshift picnic.

Next comes Khor Virap is an eerie place with two claims to fame: The
church was built atop the well where St. Gregory the Illuminator had
been imprisoned before emerging to baptize the king and queen of
Armenia and herald the introduction of Armenia as the first Christian
nation. Climb down into the narrow pit on a ladder and when you're
through imagining Gregory's claustrophobia, climb back out to the
blazing sun and view Mount Ararat across the border in Turkey.

Later, we visit Noravank, a 13th-century monastery surrounded by
dramatic red rock outcroppings. We wander the church grounds and
trace "cross stones" - unique and elaborate crosses carved on tablets
- with our fingertips.



Nearby we find a cave converted into a clean and comfortable
restaurant. As we venture into the grotto, we see the owner shuttling
pitchers of red wine, hard-boiled eggs, barbecued pork and grilled
vegetables to a table of raucous Russians, the largest of whom is
wearing a drunken grin, a traditional sheepherder's cloak and crooked
hat.

The next morning, we are eager to see the Zorats stones in early
light. This circular arrangement of stones, thought to be a celestial
observatory, is similar to England's Stonehenge, but older. It is
startlingly unprotected and uncommercialized. Only snowcapped
mountains stand guard.



Photo: GAYLON WAMPLER/Special to DMN
The Zorat stones are believed to be an ancient observatory similar
to, but older than, Stonehenge. Next, we take the road to Tate, bumpy
but leading to a lushly wooded canyon, where a monastery perches on
top like a crown. Indeed, this ninth-century complex was viewed as a
prize by invaders who attacked several times. Other than a caretaker
(an old woman who appears periodically to gather pears that have
fallen beneath a courtyard tree), we are once again practically
alone, free to explore the faded frescoes in dark rooms; to consider
the grisly remnants of a fairly recent chicken sacrifice; to climb
the fortified walls, and to imagine the 13th-century Mongols who,
historians say, pushed Christians into the gorge.



Armenians are fond of naming streets after, and quoting, their heroes
- from playwrights to poets to war generals. But it is novelist
William Saroyan who is most often cited:

"I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this
small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought
and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music
is unheard and prayers are no more answered. ... Burn their homes and
churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For
when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not
create a new Armenia."




GETTING THERE

British Airways flies from London to Yerevan three times a week.

CURRENCY

The official currency is the Armenian dram but U.S. dollars are
widely used. Yerevan has a cash economy so credit cards aren't
helpful there.

TOUR OPERATORS

Menua Tours, www.menuatours.com and Sati, www.satiglobal.com are two
of many agencies offering Armenian tours.

BEST SEASONS TO GO

Spring and fall. Temperatures are moderate and the climate is dry.

PLACES TO STAY

Congress Hotel, a clean and modern four-star facility. Double $100.
Located south of Republic Square, at 1 Italia Street. (Tel.
011-374-10-58-00-95; fax 011-374-10-52-22-24;
www.congresshotelyerevan.com)

Armenia Marriott Hotel Yerevan (formerly Hotel Armenia), with its
café facing Republic Square, is considered the city's flagship hotel.
Double $140. Includes breakfast buffet. 1 Amirian Street.
(011-374-10-59-90-00; www.marriott.com)

PLACES TO EAT

Dolmama. An upscale but cozy continental restaurant in downtown
Yerevan. Entrees range from $12 to $18. 10 Pushkin St.
(011-374-10-56-89-21)

Old Erivan. This four-story eatery has several restaurants under one
roof, from elegant European to rooftop alfresco dining with
traditional Armenian food and folk music. Entrees from $5. 2 Northern
Ave. (011-374-10-54-05-75)

MORE INFORMATION

Contact: www.armeniadiaspora.com; www.armeniainfo.com; and
www.etchmiadzin.com.


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